A pixel structure of a transflective liquid crystal display panel. The pixel structure has single cell gap design, but a coupling capacitor and a modulating capacitor are properly connected to the reflection electrode so as to modulate the voltage of the reflection electrode. Consequently, the transmission region and reflection region of the pixel structure have substantially consistent gamma curves.
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1. A pixel structure of a transflective liquid crystal display (tr-LCD) panel comprising:
a first substrate comprising a reflection region and a transflective region;
a first metal pattern disposed on the first substrate, the first metal pattern comprising:
a gate electrode disposed in the reflection region;
a first metal electrode disposed in the reflection region having a first voltage;
a second metal electrode disposed in the reflection region having a second voltage;
a third metal electrode disposed in the reflection region;
a first dielectric layer disposed on the first substrate and the first metal pattern;
a second metal pattern disposed on the first dielectric layer, the second metal pattern comprising:
a source electrode and a drain electrode disposed in the reflection region and respectively corresponding to two opposite sides of the gate electrode;
an extension electrode electrically connected to the drain electrode and extending to a part of the transmission region;
a fourth metal electrode disposed in the reflection region, the fourth metal electrode being electrically connected to the drain electrode and the third metal electrode, wherein the fourth metal electrode partially overlaps with the first metal electrode to form a storage capacitor;
a fifth metal electrode disposed in the reflection region, the fifth metal electrode being floating, wherein the fifth metal electrode partially overlaps with the third metal electrode to form a coupling capacitor, and the fifth metal electrode partially overlaps with the second metal electrode to form a modulating capacitor;
a second dielectric layer disposed on the first dielectric layer and the second metal pattern;
a reflection electrode disposed on the second dielectric layer in the reflection region, wherein the reflection electrode is electrically connected to the fifth metal electrode; and
a transmission electrode disposed on the second dielectric layer in the transmission region, wherein the transmission electrode is electrically connected to the extension electrode.
10. A method of forming a tr-LCD panel, comprising:
providing a first substrate, the first substrate having a reflection region and a transmission region defined thereon;
forming a first metal pattern on the first substrate, the first metal pattern comprising:
a gate electrode disposed in the reflection region;
a first metal electrode disposed in the reflection region;
a second metal electrode disposed in the reflection region;
a third metal electrode disposed in the reflection region;
forming a first dielectric layer on the first substrate and the first metal pattern, and forming a first contact hole in the first dielectric layer to expose a part of the third metal electrode;
forming a second metal pattern on the first dielectric layer, the second metal pattern comprising:
a source electrode and a drain electrode disposed in the reflection region and respectively corresponding to two opposite sides of the gate electrode;
an extension electrode electrically connected to the drain electrode and extending to a part of the transmission region;
a fourth metal electrode disposed in the reflection region, the fourth metal electrode electrically connected to the drain electrode, the fourth metal electrode electrically connected to the third metal electrode via the first contact hole of the first dielectric layer, wherein the fourth metal electrode partially overlaps with the first metal electrode, and the fourth metal electrode and the first metal electrode form a storage capacitor;
a fifth metal electrode disposed in the reflection region, wherein the fifth metal electrode partially overlaps with the third metal electrode, the fifth metal electrode and the third metal electrode form a coupling capacitor, the fifth metal electrode partially overlaps with the second metal electrode, and the fifth metal electrode and the second metal electrode form a modulating capacitor;
forming a second dielectric layer on the first dielectric layer and the second metal pattern, and forming a second contact hole and a third contact hole in the second dielectric layer to respectively expose a part of the fifth metal electrode and a part of the extension electrode;
forming a reflection electrode on the second dielectric layer in the reflection region, wherein the reflection electrode is filled in the second contact hole, and the reflection electrode is electrically connected to the fifth metal electrode; and
forming a transmission electrode on the second dielectric layer and in the transmission region, wherein the transmission electrode is filled in the third contact hole and electrically connected to the extension electrode.
2. The pixel structure of a tr-LCD panel of
a second substrate disposed opposite to the first substrate;
a liquid crystal layer disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate; and
a common electrode disposed on the second substrate, wherein the transmission electrode and the common electrode form a first liquid crystal capacitor, and the reflection electrode and the common electrode form a second liquid crystal capacitor.
3. The pixel structure of a tr-LCD panel of
4. The pixel structure of a tr-LCD panel of
5. The pixel structure of a tr-LCD panel of
6. The pixel structure of a tr-LCD panel of
7. The pixel structure of a tr-LCD panel of
8. The pixel structure of a tr-LCD panel of
9. The pixel structure of a tr-LCD panel of
11. The method of
forming an inorganic dielectric layer on the first dielectric layer and the second metal pattern;
forming an organic dielectric layer on the inorganic dielectric layer; and
forming the second contact hole and the third contact hole.
12. The method of
13. The method of
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pixel structure of a transflective liquid crystal display (TR-LCD) panel and a method of making the same, and more particularly, to an amorphous silicon thin-film transistor (a-Si TFT), which has a pixel structure having a single cell gap, and a method of making the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The LCDs are mainly categorized into three types such as transmissive type LCDs, reflective type LCDs and transflective type LCDs due to their different types of illumination sources. The transmissive type LCD panel usually has a backlight source disposed therein so that the transmissive type LCD panel can be provided with illumination lights. The emitting lights coming from the backlight source can penetrate through the transmissive type LCD panel and therefore the viewers can see colorful display images created by the transmissive type LCD. The reflective type LCD panel has a reflection electrode disposed therein so that the ambient lights entering into the reflective type LCD panel from the display plane of the reflective type LCD panel can be reflected by the reflection electrode. Afterwards, the reflected lights will penetrate through the reflective type LCD panel again and therefore the viewers can see the display images created by the reflective type LCD. The transflective type LCD (TR-LCD) is a kind of LCD having both of the characteristics of the reflective type LCD and the transmissive type LCD. In other words, the TR-LCD can be operated either in reflective mode or operated in transmissive mode. In such a case, it is therefore that each pixel region of the TR-LCD panel includes a transmission region and a reflection region. The transmission region is illuminated by the backlight source, and the reflection region is illuminated by the ambient lights.
Conventional TR-LCD panels can be further classified into a single cell gap TR-LCD panel and a dual cell gap TR-LCD panel. The cell gap of the reflection region of the single cell gap TR-LCD panel is identical to that of the transmission region of the single cell gap TR-LCD panel. However, since the light path difference of the ambient light of the reflection region is not identical to that of the backlight source of the transmission region, the gamma curve of the reflection region is accordingly not identical to that of the transmission region. Consequently, an optimized optical efficiency operated either in reflective mode or operated in transmissive mode can not be looked after. The dual cell gap TR-LCD panel is different from the single cell gap TR-LCD panel. The cell gap of the reflection region of the dual cell gap TR-LCD panel is substantially about half of the cell gap of the transmission region of the dual cell gap TR-LCD panel so that the ambient lights of the reflection region and the backlight source of the transmission region substantially have the same light path difference. In such a case, the transmission region and reflection region have substantially consistent gamma curves. However, since the cell gap of the dual cell gap TR-LCD panel must be adjusted by virtue of arranging additional bumps in the reflection region, an additional manufacturing process should be performed for forming the bumps. As a consequence, the complexity of the manufacturing process and the production cost will increase.
One object of the present invention is to provide a pixel structure of a TR-LCD panel so that the production cost can be lowered, the complexity of the manufacturing process can be decreased, and the optimized optical efficiency of the reflection region and the transmission region can be obtained.
To achieve the aforementioned object, the present invention provides a pixel structure of a TR-LCD panel. The pixel structure of a TR-LCD panel includes a first substrate, a first metal pattern, a first dielectric layer, a second metal pattern, a second dielectric layer, a reflection electrode and a transmission electrode. The first substrate includes a reflection region and a transmission region. The first metal pattern disposed on the first substrate includes a gate electrode, a first metal electrode, a second metal electrode and a third metal electrode. The gate electrode is disposed in the reflection region. The first metal electrode disposed in the reflection region has a first voltage, the second metal electrode disposed in the reflection region has a second voltage, and the third metal electrode is disposed in the reflection region. The first dielectric layer is disposed on the first substrate and the first metal pattern. The second metal pattern disposed on the first dielectric layer includes a source electrode, a drain electrode, an extension electrode, a fourth metal electrode and a fifth metal electrode. The source electrode and the drain electrode are disposed in the reflection region and respectively corresponding to the two opposite sides of the gate electrode. The extension electrode is electrically connected to the drain electrode and extending to a part of transmission region. The fourth metal electrode is disposed in the reflection region, and the fourth metal electrode is electrically connected to the drain electrode and the third metal electrode. The fourth metal electrode partially overlaps with the first metal electrode to form a storage capacitor. The fifth metal electrode disposed in the reflection region is floating. The fifth metal electrode partially overlaps with the third metal electrode to form a coupling capacitor. The fifth metal electrode partially overlaps with the second metal electrode to form a modulating capacitor. The second dielectric layer is disposed on the first dielectric layer and the second metal pattern. The reflection electrode is disposed on the second dielectric layer in the reflection region, and the reflection electrode is electrically connected to the fifth metal electrode. The transmission electrode is disposed on the second dielectric layer, and the transmission electrode in the transmission region is electrically connected to the extension electrode.
To achieve the aforementioned object, the present invention further provides a method of forming a pixel structure of a TR-LCD panel. The method includes steps as follows. A first substrate is provided, and a reflection region and a transmission region are defined on the first substrate. A first metal pattern is formed on the first substrate. The first metal pattern includes a gate electrode disposed in the reflection region, a first metal electrode disposed in the reflection region, a second metal electrode disposed in the reflection region and a third metal electrode disposed in the reflection region. A first dielectric layer is formed on the first substrate and the first metal pattern, and a first contact hole is formed in the first dielectric layer to expose a part of the third metal electrode. A second metal pattern is formed on the first dielectric layer. The second metal pattern includes a source electrode and a drain electrode disposed in the reflection region and respectively corresponding to the two opposite sides of the gate electrode, an extension electrode electrically connected to the drain electrode and extending to a part of transmission region, a fourth metal electrode disposed in the reflection region and electrically connected to the drain electrode, and a fifth metal electrode disposed in the reflection region. The fourth metal electrode is electrically connected to the third metal electrode via the first contact hole of the first dielectric layer. The fourth metal electrode partially overlaps with the first metal electrode, and the fourth metal electrode and the first metal electrode form a storage capacitor. The fifth metal electrode partially overlaps with the third metal electrode, and the fifth metal electrode and the third metal electrode form a coupling capacitor. Besides, the fifth metal electrode partially overlaps with the second metal electrode, and the fifth metal electrode and the second metal electrode form a modulating capacitor. A second dielectric layer is formed on the first dielectric layer and the second metal pattern, a second contact hole is formed in the second dielectric layer to expose a part of the fifth metal electrode, and a third contact hole is formed expose a part of the extension electrode. A reflection electrode is formed on the second dielectric layer of the reflection region, and the reflection electrode is filled in the second contact hole and is electrically connected to the fifth metal electrode. A transmission electrode is formed on the second dielectric layer in the transmission region, the transmission electrode is filled in the third contact hole, and the transmission electrode is electrically connected to the extension electrode of the drain electrode.
Since the pixel structure of the TR-LCD panel of the present invention utilizes a single cell gap structure, the advantages such as lower complexity of the fabrication process and lower production cost can be obtained. Besides, since the transmission region and the reflection region have similar gamma curves by virtue of disposing a coupling capacitor and a modulating capacitor electrically connected to the reflection electrode, the optical efficiency for both of the transmission region and the reflection region can be optimized.
These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.
With reference to
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As illustrated in
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With reference to
The TR-LCD in this embodiment has a single cell gap design. However, by virtue of disposing the coupling capacitor CC and the modulating capacitor C2 electrically connected to the reflection electrode 24R properly, the transmission region 10T and the reflection region 10R will have similar gamma curves. Since an additional manufacturing process is needless to form a dual cell gap, the manufacturing process is simplified. Besides, compared with low temperature poly-silicon thin film transistors (LTPS-TFTs), the TR-LCD panel of this embodiment utilizes a-Si TFTs fabricated by simplified manufacturing process so that the production capacity and the yield can be increased. The circuit design of the pixel structure of the TR-LCD panel of the present invention will be detailed as follows.
With reference to
From aforementioned description we know, the transmission electrode 26T of the first liquid crystal capacitor CLC1 used to drive the transmission region 10T is electrically connected to the drain electrode of the switching device mth_SW directly and can be controlled by the signals coming from the mth_data line. On the other hand, the reflection electrode 24R of the second liquid crystal capacitor CLC2 used to control the reflection region 10R is not electrically connected to the drain electrode of the switching device mth_SW directly but electrically connected to the fifth metal electrode 205 of the coupling capacitor CC and the modulating capacitor C2. In such a case, the reflection electrode 24R and the transmission electrode 26T have different voltages so that the transmission region 10T and the reflection region 10R have substantially consistent gamma curves.
According to Kirchhoff's Current Law, the voltage VCLC2 of the second liquid crystal capacitor CLC2 of the reflection region 10R of the pixel structure of the TR-LCD panel of the this embodiment can be represented by the following formula:
In another words, by virtue of disposing the coupling capacitor CC and the modulating capacitor C2 and adjusting the proportionate relationship between the coupling capacitor CC, the modulating capacitor C2 and the second liquid crystal capacitor CLC2, the voltage VCLC2 of the second liquid crystal capacitor CLC2 can be adjusted so that the reflection region 10R and the transmission region 10T have substantially consistent gamma curves.
With reference to
In order to achieve the optimal optical efficiency either in reflective mode or in transflective mode, the coupling capacitor CC and the modulating capacitor C2 are integrated into the standard process of the pixel structure of the TR-LCD panel according to the present invention. In such a case, an additional manufacturing process for forming dual cell gap is not required. Consequently, the gamma curves of the reflection region can be adjusted by the aforementioned method. With reference to
In summary, the pixel structure of a TR-LCD panel of the present invention has following advantages:
Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention.
Lin, Ching-Huan, Lin, Hsiang-Lin, Hsu, Shih-Chia
Patent | Priority | Assignee | Title |
Patent | Priority | Assignee | Title |
7486360, | May 03 2005 | SAMSUNG DISPLAY CO , LTD | Liquid crystal display |
20060268186, |
Executed on | Assignor | Assignee | Conveyance | Frame | Reel | Doc |
Jun 23 2009 | HSU, SHIH-CHIA | AU Optronics Corp | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 022931 | /0863 | |
Jun 23 2009 | LIN, HSIANG-LIN | AU Optronics Corp | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 022931 | /0863 | |
Jun 23 2009 | LIN, CHING-HUAN | AU Optronics Corp | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 022931 | /0863 | |
Jul 09 2009 | AU Optronics Corp. | (assignment on the face of the patent) | / |
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